Lakewood High School wrestling program in danger of being axed

Cornell University associate head coach Damon Hahn, shown in this 2008 photo, is a former Lakewood High School wrestler, who wants to see the Lakewood High School wrestling program saved.(Photo: File photo)Buy Photo

It is a very real possibility that rips away the heart of all those in the wrestling community and is very personal for Damion Hahn and Oscar Orellana.

The Lakewood High School wrestling program — one of the oldest ones in the Shore Conference — will cease to exist unless the Lakewood Board of Education can come up with the funds to save it.

“Any time the sport gets cut, it hurts, but even more so here because this is where I grew up — the place I wrestled. It hurts," Hahn, said.

Hahn is wrestling royalty, and it all began for him in Lakewood. His late father, Miles, established the Central Jersey Wrestling Club — which became known as Team Hammer — in Lakewood. One of Miles Hahn's prize pupils was his son.

Hahn then became a three-time NJSIAA champion at Lakewood High from 1997-99 — his sophomore to senior seasons — and a four-time state finalist. He was a two-time NCAA champion at the University of Minnesota, a four-time NCAA All-America and an alternate on the 2008 United States Olympic Wrestling Team.

He currently is the associate head coach at Cornell University — one of the powers in NCAA Division I wrestling. He has been on Cornell’s coaching staff for 11 years.

Orellana is another loyal son of Lakewood. He has done almost everything when it comes to serving the Lakewood wrestling community. He has been the high school team’s head coach the last two seasons.

“I’m devastated," Orellana said. “None of these kids (the current Lakewood wrestlers) have anything to do with the mismanagement of funds. They are being made to pay for everybody else’s mistakes, and that’s not fair."

Orellana, a 2005 LHS graduate, was the NJSIAA eighth-place finisher at 135 pounds in 2005 and a three-time state qualifier during his career.

The young wrestlers Orellana is trying to develop at the high school, middle school or recreation level will not get the chance to become the next Damion Hahn, Doug Parise (a 1976 NJSIAA champion at Lakewood who then became an NCAA All-America and later head coach at Temple University), Oscar Orellana or have an avenue to get a college education unless something changes in a hurry.

Most sports at LHS are on the chopping block because the $143 million budget state that monitor David Shaffer overruled the Lakewood Board of Education’s objection to and adopted at the June 27 BOE meeting does not include these athletic programs and six librarian positions due to a shortage of funds.

The only reason the school's football program would continue to exist is because the Lakewood Township Committee has pledged to pay $84,000 to ensure the high school will have a football program this fall.

The money to field boys and girls soccer teams and boys and girls track and field teams is included in the budget.

The fate of the wrestling program, and Lakewood's other programs, will come into sharper focus at the July 19 Board of Education meeting.

Among Lakewood's athletic teams facing the budget axe are its storied boys basketball program, girls basketball, its tradition-rich baseball program and softball.

“There has to be a way to give these kids the opportunity. The part that hurts me the most is that the short term solution can have a long-term effect," Orellana said.

“This is not good for high school athletics," Hahn said. “Taking away opportunities for these kids (the Lakewood student-athletes) is not the way to go. I understand, I don’t know all the details, but it is just not good."

Wrestling gave Orellana an opportunity to get a college education as well as continue his wrestling career at Springfield College, and he sure benefited from that chance.

“I was the first generation from my family to ever get a college education, and I can attest the one thing that made a difference in my life was wrestling," Orellana said.

Orellana was an NCAA Scholar All-American in 2008 and was Springield's captain and led the team in wins during the 2008-09 season.

“And then I came straight home," Orellana said. “There was nowhere I wanted to go, but come back to Lakewood."

He came home so he could make a difference in the community.

Like Miles Hahn was, Orellana has been instrumental with the Lakewood wrestling program at the grassroots level. That was the case even when he was an assistant coach at Toms River High School North.

In his two seasons as Lakewood’s head coach, Orellana has worked to build the program back up. He has given his wrestlers as much mat time as possible in order to get better and build the numbers within the program up.

Orellana said there were 34 wrestlers in the program last year and that last season was the first time in about eight seasons that Lakewood was able to field a full lineup.

The Piners wrestled 37 dual-meet matches last season and set a school-record for dual-meet wins in a season with 16.

Orellana said the middle school program has 40 wrestlers in the program.

Even in the face of all the uncertainty this summer, Orellana said Lakewood is still fielding a summer league team.

“We’re starting to see what the kids can accomplish and then to have it taken away, is just not right," Orellana said. “The truth is what are we talking about when it comes to the cost to run the program is not that much. The high school program runs on about $35,000 and the middle school program runs on $17,000. We’re talking around $50,000 to run the program in a district with a $143 million budget."

Orellana said he and the wrestlers who currently are in the high school, middle school and the recreation programs plan to be at the July 19 BOE meeting, where they hope to be able to make their case to save the program.

Orellana has started a “Save LHS Wrestling’’ campaign on the Facebook page of the Escape Wrestling Club — the club that he runs. On that page is a letter of support from Michael Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

“I’m reaching out to everybody," Orellana said. “I’m not going to sit back and let it be lost. There is so much at stakes for these kids' futures."

And Orellana can point to 2016 graduate Marco Quintero as another example of how wrestling has made a difference in the life of a young student-athlete.

Orellana said Quintero, who was the NJSIAA District 24 runner-up at 160 in 2016, recorded a 4.0 grade point average at Missouri Baptist College last year, in addition to being on the wrestling team.

“And his first goal is to come back and coach with us," Orellana said.

But, by the time Quintero graduates from college, the LHS wrestling program and the avenue for teenagers to better themselves both academically and athletically may be long gone.

“This is a sport that has provided so much for young people that is being taken away, and that’s terrible," Hahn said.

Hahn said he has not talked to Orellana yet, but is sure he will talk to him in the coming days. Orellana said he is anxious to talk to Hahn.

“I want to hear what he (Orellana) has going on," Hahn said. “Hopefully, we can bounce ideas off each other and come up with something. I don’t know how far it has gotten, but if there is a way to help and save it (the wrestling program), I want to do it.’’